Dormant Plans for Residential Towers Back Before Supervisors

Nearly six years after being approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors — and then virtually halting plans to move forward — there is some action on Lerner Enterprises’ Excelsior Parc project.

The Excelsior Parc will include 457 residential units in two buildings on Reston’s Oracle campus near the intersection of Sunset Hills and Reston Parkway.

The project was first proposed in 2oo6 and was sent back from the county several times for changes that were finally approved by the supervisors in 2010. The Fairfax County Planning Commission had recommended denial of the plan for two 15-story towers because they seemed out of scale with Plaza America, Reston Parkway and surrounding areas.

However, a lot has happened since 2010. The Reston skyline has come to include The Harrison, Midtown, BLVD and plans for a 23-story office tower, among other buildings. So 15 stories seems rather modest.

But that is not why the developers are back before the supervisors. The buildings had originally been approved for 820 underground parking spaces. The developers are seeking a reduction in parking of 16.4 percent, which must be approved by board.

The County Executive recommends the supervisors approve the reduction based on an analysis of the parking requirements. He has recommended 612 spaces, including 58 designated for guests.

Part of the reason for the change is the Metro. The property is about a half-mile from the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station and about the same distance from the future Reston Town Center Station, which is scheduled to open in 2020.

The Excelsior is planned to have 212 studio/one-bedroom units; 202 two-bedroom unites; and 33 three-bedroom units.

They better have plenty of parking, because if this overdevelopment keeps up they won’t be able to get out of the lot – the roads will be too clogged.

RVA_101

Aah. Always fun to see people like you who don’t understand the concept of induced demand. If you add more parking, you are encouraging driving and then more cars WILL clog the road unless you encourage alternate transportation (like metro) which this development is specifically being built because of.